HTML Interview Questions

What is HTML?

HTML, or HyperText Markup Language, is a Universal language which allows an individual using special code to create web pages to be viewed on the Internet.

What is a tag?
In HTML, a tag tells the browser what to do. When you write an HTML page, you enter tags for many reasons -- to change the appearance of text, to show a graphic, or to make a link to another page.

How do I create frames? What is a frameset?
Frames allow an author to divide a browser window into multiple (rectangular) regions. Multiple documents can be displayed in a single window, each within its own frame. Graphical browsers allow these frames to be scrolled independently of each other, and links can update the document displayed in one frame without affecting the others.
You can't just "add frames" to an existing document. Rather, you must create a frameset document that defines a particular combination of frames, and then display your content documents inside those frames. The frameset document should also include alternative non-framed content in a NOFRAMES element.
The HTML 4 frames model has significant design flaws that cause usability problems for web users. Frames should be used only with great care.

How can I include comments in HTML?
Technically, since HTML is an SGML application, HTML uses SGML comment syntax. However, the full syntax is complex, and browsers don't support it in its entirety anyway. Therefore, use the following simplified rule to create HTML comments that both have valid syntax and work in browsers:

Do not put comments inside tags (i.e., between "<" and ">") in HTML markup.

What is a Hypertext link?
A hypertext link is a special tag that links one page to another page or resource. If you click the link, the browser jumps to the link's destination.

How comfortable are you with writing HTML entirely by hand?

Very. I don’t usually use WYSIWYG. The only occasions when I do use Dreamweaver are when I want to draw something to see what it looks like, and then I’ll usually either take that design and hand-modify it or build it all over again from scratch in code. I have actually written my own desktop HTML IDE for Windows (it’s called Less Than Slash) with the intention of deploying it for use in web development training. If has built-in reference features, and will autocomplete code by parsing the DTD you specify in the file. That is to say, the program doesn’t know anything about HTML until after it parses the HTML DTD you specified. This should give you some idea of my skill level with HTML.

What is everyone using to write HTML?
Everyone has a different preference for which tool works best for them. Keep in mind that typically the less HTML the tool requires you to know, the worse the output of the HTML. In other words, you can always do it better by hand if you take the time to learn a little HTML.

What is a DOCTYPE? Which one do I use?
According to HTML standards, each HTML document begins with a DOCTYPE declaration that specifies which version of HTML the document uses. Originally, the DOCTYPE declaration was used only by SGML-based tools like HTML validators, which needed to determine which version of HTML a document used (or claimed to use).
Today, many browsers use the document's DOCTYPE declaration to determine whether to use a stricter, more standards-oriented layout mode, or to use a "quirks" layout mode that attempts to emulate older, buggy browsers.

How do I align a table to the right (or left)?
You can use

to float a table to the right. (Use ALIGN="left" to float it to the left.) Any content that follows the closing tag will flow around the table. Use
or
to mark the end of the text that is to flow around the table, as shown in this example:

The table in this example will float to the right.
...
This text will wrap to fill the available space to the left of (and if the text is long enough, below) the table.


This text will appear below the table, even if there is additional room to its left.

How can I use tables to structure forms?
Small forms are sometimes placed within a TD element within a table. This can be a useful for positioning a form relative to other content, but it doesn't help position the form-related elements relative to each other.
To position form-related elements relative to each other, the entire table must be within the form. You cannot start a form in one TH or TD element and end in another. You cannot place the form within the table without placing it inside a TH or TD element. You can put the table inside the form, and then use the table to position the INPUT, TEXTAREA, SELECT, and other form-related elements, as shown in the following example.